Archive for May, 2006

There are some books I must read in small doses, because the excitement of new ideas mingles with the despair of ever writing anything as groundbreaking.

The new and improved S.S.O.T.B.M.E. is such a book — one of those that makes me wish I had written it, because if I had, maybe my views on science and magic would be a bit clearer. While I don’t like the emphasis on aeonics in one chapter — every time someone brings up talk of “aeons” my eyelids feel heavy — and I think it could be a bit clearer for those without an advanced background in postmodern theory, it’s a miracle between two pieces of cardboard.

My answer to a lot of magical-type question could be “read S.S.O.T.B.M.E.”

I got me the conlanging bug again. I’m toying with a language whose lexicon is created through glossolalia, but I’m not sure exactly how to do it. I was thinking of just recording myself speaking in tongues, grabbing the Swadesh list, and assigning lexemes willy nilly. Another possibility is “translating” a text — but that’ll likely lead to soup.

The other thing I’m toying with — maybe it’ll end up related — is an ideographic writing system. I toy with such things on and off. Supposedly they’re impossible, but Blissymbolics seems to work. Of course, that’s not perfectly ideographic, it strikes me. But a magical language, with a much smaller domain, could get by with even fewer basic forms and make use of shortcuts Bliss could never manage. For example, if you have one symbol for metal, you could combine the planetary symbols to create glyphs for the seven planetary metals. The goal here would be to create a language to note down not just sentences of desire but also theoretical ideas, showing the relationship between them more clearly than with alphabetic words.

Wonder if there’s a way to post a sample of it here, once I figure it out . . .

I got a spot of spam on a mailing list I’m on, so I analyzed it with gematria. Here it is for those who find such things amusing and interesting.

On 5/2/06, Ratshka Kure wrote:

By my mid teens, I have developed a beautiful face and an incredible figure. But my little girl is sick again. I am ready to make everything just for little help.

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Even spam can be a message from the Communicant. Let’s analyze this by gematria and figure out what the spirits are trying to tell the group.

First, we have the name Ratshka Kure. Let’s translate it into Hebrew — Among many ways to transliterate it include RTShKH KURY, which equals 534 + 236, or 770. Icky numbers, but let’s see what Sepher Sephiroth has to say:

770 equals the value of the words TShUTTUTh, “going forth,” which the Sefer Yetzirah says of the tetragrammaton. It also equals OQRTh, meaning “unfruitful” or “barren.” Ironic, considering this spirit claims to have a child.

770 is also 7 x 110, which is Netzach times khavaq, “to embrace” or nas, “flag.”
110, of course, is 11 x 10, so it’s a manifestation of the number 11, simultaneously the number of the qlippoth and the Great Work.

Mid-teens, of course, could refer to 15, the card of the Devil in the tarot. Matter, therefore, is described as beautiful and incredible.

In other words, it appears we have a gnostic demon of venus, trying to distract us from the great work by offering material beauty — however, it also has the potential of being bound and redeemed, to become the barer of the flag of venus and its “right hand” (yomin). So to judge the spirit and determine if we an work with it, we need to know more about it.

The username, “hate” “hurricane” and “f” are three clues: “Hate” is ‘iv, 13, (the same number as “ahev” meaning “love,” but don’t panic), “hurricane” is trickier: My Ben Yehudah tells me “sufah,” SUPH, which doesn’t thrill me, but let’s work with it — it’d equal 151. Oi. That’s a personally significant number, so now I have to perk up. So: Hate, plus Hurricane, equals 164, plus F, which is Peh, 80, equals 244. Crowley tells us that 244 equals the word RDM, to be in a deep sleep or trance.

So this is also an angel, as well as a demon. It’s a gnostic demon sent to tempt us with the beauty of matter (15), while simultaneously offering us the corruption of venusian pleasure without consequence (7 * 110). It’s promising us the dissolution of the qlippoth or the secretof the great work — 11 * 70 (SUD, “secret”). It’s flagging me down with the significant number 151, telling me that it’s connected, in some way, to my HGA, and the message my HGA is using through it is to tell me (and maybe you, I don’t know) that I am dozing in a trance and need to awake.